Hackers come out to play?

With World War 3 seemingly around the corner and protests, riots and revolutions popping off in all corners of the globe I can't help but wonder the following..

Will the hackers come out to play?

There are plenty of 'Script kiddies' around nowadays. And they aren't stupid, they know that capitalism has been used to repeatedly rape the world into submission and they are not happy. All we have to do is look to movements like Anonymous who although seem to not have accomplished anything 'worthy of admiration' and for the most part are probably 4chan junkies, they still have a message and they still stand for something. I know there are many here who read a lot of conspiracy into groups like Anonymous but hey.. hacking is a conspiracy all in itself.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.
Source

I don't pretend to know what is going to happen in the coming years or how it is going to happen. I just wonder if our hacking brothers and sisters will aid us in times of peril. Anonymous gave Internet to the Libyan people when theirs was shut down. Surely they would do this for us if the same happened?.. Unless Anonymous has of course been 'hijacked' by the US government or Soros or whoever if even possible given the way Anonymous runs.. personally I think it is stupid to suggest that Anonymous is a government operation.

So when Martial law reigns down and we crushed by oppression will our brothers and sisters of script come to our aid?

I think so.

But how?... By disrupting military efforts against civilians by cyber attacking the military? By giving us Internet so we can upload videos of police and military brutality?

I often wonder if a complete overthrow of our global and tyrannical system could be achieved by a group of 1337 hax0rs. My guess is probably not but I think they could definitely help!!

Thoughts?

reply to post by TechUnique


Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

What if its done to reveal the truth? just asking

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

There are actually some ethical hackers who don't do it for profit but pure curiosity. There are also hackers who strive purely just to uncover wrong doing and unethical corporate procedures.

I'm not entirely disagreeing with you. And I haven't defended hacking as a whole in this thread but amongst all the 'lolol script kiddy 4chan sick puppies' there are actually some good folk. I've known quite a lot of hackers.

I'm assuming you know the difference between a black and white hat hacker? And the difference between a cracker and a hacker?

Obviously it is breaking and entering.. but are you telling me there are NEVER any warranted reasons for doing so? Giving the Libyans free Internet when theirs was shut down for instance.

There is a fine line between ethical and legal a lot of the time. And remember, crime is a result of law. There are bigger things at play such as morales. And common sense.

I'm not defending the hackers who just disrupt things or steal things 'for the lulz' but the potential for a knight in shining armor in the form of script kiddies around the world..

I'm probably just living a pipe dream though to be honest!
But you never know, maybe they will come out to play when things turn grisly.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

Hacker (term), a term used in computing for several types of person
Hacker (computer security) someone who accesses a computer system by circumventing its security system
Hacker (hobbyist), who makes innovative customizations or combinations of retail electronic and computer equipment
Hacker (programmer subculture), who shares an anti-authoritarian approach to software development now associated with the free software movement

Pity their isn't a penalty or punishment for such undeniable ignorance as your own hideously out-dated and recklessly foolish beliefs such as those you spout. Did you miss the computer-age or something??

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

No they're not. They only become criminals after infringing the Computer Misuse Act, or whatever computer misuse crime is applicable in their country.
Neither is hacking a crime. If it was, the entire Microsoft corporation would be in jail, as would every half-decent programmer and engineer.

TechUnique's definition of 'hacker' is pretty much correct.

If hacking will stop government lies and corruption and gives the people an open and transparent government – then I am all for it.

No more secrets, no more ‘in the name of national security’ BS, the people elect the government and the people should have total control over how the government operates and what it does.

Mickierocksman

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

Hackers are already being employed by governments and many large corporates. As someone who works in IT and is concerned with security, it is the only sensible response to a less than perfect world.

As soon as valuable stuff is stored as data online, someone will try and rip it off.

Just because you have the capability to penetrate a secure system, does not equate with you breaking and entering.

Much of the data released by Wikileaks was obtained by hacking. The perpetrators of these hack-attacks are usually highly principled people who see those they are hacking as the malefactors.

For instance in the "HB Gary" hack it was revealed that they had been capturing and databasing credit card details of their customers. This is against the law.

Anonymous is a hard "group" or "idea" to tie down

I have no doubt that there are many, many talented individuals involved as well as many "script kiddies" and no doubt many infiltrators working for various organisations.

It's kind of like a military in that you have the talented individuals that are much like special ops groups, you have script kiddies as the cannon fodder and also some spies amongst your ranks.

From what I can see, the overall motivation is freedom both online and in the real world.

The way it operates makes it impossible to tell who is behind what and because of that, both the good and the bad are attributed to Anonymous. This is a major downfall as it gives plenty of ammunition to those that despise Anonymous.

There are those referred to as "egofags" or "namefags" who are in it purely to get a name for themselves for whichever hack they can and no matter who they hurt in the process.

There are the "moralfags" who are the politically/socially motivated types you will find participating in Ops like OpSyria. OpBahrain, OpSudan, OpPedoChat etc

You also have the spin off groups like Lulzsec and AntiSec who are more your "lulz" types, out to embarrass the hell out of security firms and what not.

There are also plenty of people with no real skills but are vital to the simple spreading of information.

More and more the movement is also making the transition to the real world and being involved in physical street protests.

The internet is a vital front in the fight for freedoms around the world and it was inevitable that forms of protest would evolve online. Not as a replacement but to compliment physical protests.

Anyway, that's my take on it all as nothing more than an observer. Feel free to correct me or laugh at anything I've got completely wrong lol

Originally posted by Mickierocksman
If hacking will stop government lies and corruption and gives the people an open and transparent government – then I am all for it.

No more secrets, no more ‘in the name of national security’ BS, the people elect the government and the people should have total control over how the government operates and what it does.

Mickierocksman

I agree; maybe just as good as our right to bear arms...

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by TechUnique

 

Sorry but Hackers are common criminals. The punishment for Hacking should be increased until they stop. Hacking is the same as breaking and entering no matter what lie they tell themselves. Only children and childish adults believe otherwise.

So we should be seeing arrests and punishment for those American and Israeli government officials responsible for Stuxnet or Flame?

I should also add there are hackers who believe everyone has a right to privacy, security and freedom of expression.

reply to post by mr-lizard


second. well said.

the majority of hackers, those individuals above and beyond the limitations of prescribed definitions, have already correctly been identified as being targeted for recruitment rather than prosecution. this should be of more concern than if they were simply rogue.

good thread.

ya he hackers are not serious problem here

I used to hack a lot and still do from time to time and I'm not a criminal. I'm a security expert, but only part-time and it's been nearly a year since I've last done this. I check code to see if there are loopholes and try to break into my client's websites to make them stronger. There are white hat hackers and black hat hackers and it's basically good vs evil for computers.

If WW3 happens there will be a complete shutdown on the internet. In fact, if there is a complete shutdown for a decade (let's say this hypothetical war lasts that long), it'll be interesting having to connect the world's various internets together again. The US wouldn't have supreme power over the net, but rather it would be distributed. Domain name may be completely different in the future but that's a whole different story.

If hackers come out to play, they won't be playing for very long I don't think. After all, Obama has the Internet kill switch now.

reply to post by TechUnique


some of the old school TCP/IP worked left those holes on purpose.

hackers have always been F.O.I. Types, and they were often employed by the Government and the Corporations to work in Networking type stuff, the best anti-hacking device is the hacker.

chalk it up as protecting the freedom of information act through the hands of the public themselves in the past, but this will be harder to do in the future, we have been fortunate it has been this long, but if they DO fix it, it slows down currency flow (current (latin) = energy (english) cy (latin) = Life (english), like antivirus sales and such, would fire thousands of "security" experts that exploit your lack of knowledge on the subject.

you all better hope it is NEVER fixed.

reply to post by Blaine91555


Hacker's aren't all common criminals. It depends on the person. Lots of people do it to show people that nothing is truly secure and that the security they paid for, whatever platform it may be on, is still penetrable. Some hackers do bad stuff. Right now you can go on pastebin and look at trending pastes to see that lots of hackers are attacking pedophiles right now. How is that criminal? They're rooting out evil sick people. There are two sides to every coin, I hope I've brought light to this one for you.

i am not a hacker,
i am a hardware junkie,
i rebuild car engines
i diagnose boat electronics and electrical faults,
i have had a computer for a far back as i can remember,

i can tell you how phone networks work or traffic light systems,
even plumbing works.

i have studied for fun,
the hardware infrastructure of the internet, backbone switching routing and protocols,

networks, web servers, terminal servers, encryption and security.

i have watched as the internet has changed and evolved over the years.

my firm beleif is that to use this tech you must know how it works and why the internet was designed to allow open access to ALL people for knowledge to be shared world wide.

i do not write scripts,
i do not enter networks without permission, but hate when people enter my domain without permission,

i believe that the internet should stay free, and the free flow of information should be for everyone equally.

i design hardware network architecture to protect users and their privacy and their intellectual property,
so that the net can be free, and so that everyday users can be free from having to study computer science full time just to be safe on the net.

people have called me a hacker for designing privacy by design ISPs

WTF?

so that non computer scientists can be free from the hasel of protecting themselves on the free net.

so i would like to point out not many people seem to know what a hacker really is.

and anyone who says net users who want privacy must be "pirates" does not understand how the hardware and software layers work,

or the law

courts have ruled that the internet affords no privacy from third parties.

i am not a hacker for listening to the courts rulings and taking the required action,
supplying privacy tools for people who think they are already sufing in privacy is not a crime.

and that also dos not make me a hacker.

Ctrl V Ctrl C

xploder

XPloder summed it up better than any of us here.

If the government ever decides to enact control over the Internet and declare martial law, a hacker will be almost as valuable as weaponry.

Who else is going to be able to VPN tunnel through 'secure' networks and communicate with compatriates to coordinate counter-offensives? Who else will be able to hack into networks and see OPORDS and other paramilitary planning and logistics?

IMO, we must have hackers, and we should recruit who we can, pay them accordingly, and use their talents to protect our assets and deny our enemies theirs.

*this statement comes from someone who tries to reconstruct what a hacker has done on a particular network*